Unlikely But Useful Tips on Better Planning

What Could The Spontaneous People Know About Planning?

Finding a blog about planning better on a website promoting spontaneity might seem a bit ironic but stick with us. You may or may not know that we are both media producers by trade (in other words, professional planners that can schedule things down to the second). But, being really good at planning helps us appreciate unplanned time and also makes it easier to make room for unplanned time. Plus, with a good solid plan that we can stick to, there’s plenty of ways to work spontaneity in.

Here’s something we bet you never thought you’d get from Be More Spontaneous — our top tips on scheduling your time and planning better.

Be Realistic. Make sure that the task matches the time allotted and vice versa.

Prioritize. Tackle the most important tasks first (even if they are the least fun to do).

Stay Focused & Present. Multitasking has all kinds of benefits but if you stay present with the task and focus on it, you’ll conquer it quicker.

Don’t Plan if You Can Do. Don’t bother putting things on a to-do list that are easy enough to just get done. For example, don’t put ‘make to-do list’ on your to-do list (come on, we’re all guilty…) Anything that takes less than a couple of minutes to do and can be done right way, should be done right away.

Inject Spontaneity into Appointments. You didn’t think we’d make a list without including spontaneity, did you? We love spontaneity so much, we make sure to add it to most of our social activities. Our nieces have been particularly responsive to this and as a result of some spontaneous play (ie we ‘hired’ them to work for us and they joined our meeting) we actually managed to get a lot done and they generated some great new ideas. (Thanks, junior interns, Amelia and Zosia!)

Schedule Free Time. Blocking off an hour between meetings, on day trips or even for lunch means you’ll always have time for a quick spontaneous break. This approach has paid off for us on many of our ‘work trips’ because we get to explore neighbourhoods, get inspired by random people we met (yep, we’re talking to strangers again) and eaten some great meals.

And finally, avoid falling into time sucks like social media or dwelling on the things in the past (that you can’t change) or projecting into the future. Remember, one of the best lessons we learn from practicing spontaneity is how to be present in the moment, to stay connected with the now and that also helps us be better planners (who stick to their plan). With good planning comes more free time – and that’s a good thing for anyone looking to be more spontaneous.

Did these tips help you? Have you got any tips you’d like to share? Connect with us on Facebook or Twitter. We LOVE to hear from you.

We Are the Spontaneous

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